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“I feel this situation has been forced upon us by the Government. The minimum wage is too low and you lose your benefits if you work, but they’re too easy to get if you don’t work.

“If I have to get a job I want a good one. For now, I have to make the most of the system.”

The family are understood to receive £20,400 in housing benefit, £14,456 in child tax credits, £8,320 incapacity benefit, £4,524 child benefit and £1,200 council tax benefit.

Mr Fennessy-Sharp, 56, said he suffers light-headedness, migraines every three weeks and feels ill and stressed if he works for more than an hour. He used to be employed in a factory but has been unable to work for 20 years.

The couple have ten children between them: Mrs Fennessy-Sharp has three under ten years old from a previous relationship and her husband has seven aged between three and nine years.

She told the magazine she felt guilty about claiming so much money but that she was financially better off volunteering than working, adding: “I know taxpayers are being punished – I hate taking their money. But we’re being allowed to get away with it.”

A spokesman for the DWP said: "Outrageous cases like this is why we are changing the system.

“People will be astonished that benefit claimants can receive higher incomes than families who are in work.

“That’s why next April we’re introducing a cap on benefits so that no household can receive more than £26k a year."